Candidates vie for seats in disputed Palmdale election

The run-up to Tuesday’s Palmdale municipal elections has been a bit of a yo-yo, with voters and even candidates themselves confused as to whether the outcome will matter, given a lengthy court battle over the city’s method of voting.

But, the city says, votes will count and residents should make it to the ballot boxes.

“Despite the many unsuccessful attempts to stop our election and create mass confusion with our residents, we are taking every opportunity we have to let people know that this election is on and that the constitutional rights of our residents have been preserved,” city spokesman John Mlynar said in a statement last week.

At issue is whether the city’s at-large method of voting, which ignores geographical boundaries that often help prevent racial discrimination in electing city officials, violates California law. Several residents sued the city to force district-based voting last year.

In July, Judge Mark Mooney ruled the city’s current method violates the California Voting Rights Act and disproportionately disenfranchises minority voters. In September, he blocked council and mayoral elections pending a further decision.

But an appeals court said in October the city could proceed with the elections, count the votes, and then return to court to have the results certified.

The city is also set to decide on several additional local seats, including trustees for Antelope Valley College, Westside Union School District and Palmdale School District. None of those races was contested, and all are slated to proceed as planned.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs, several local residents, say despite the fact that city officials plan on counting the votes, they won’t count in the long run.

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“It’s an illegal election and once it’s decided to be an illegal election, it can’t be certified by another court,” said Kevin Shenkman, an attorney with Malibu firm Shenkman & Hughes, who initially filed the lawsuit. “What we requested is a special election in June to coincide with the state primary.”

After the voting is done on Tuesday, Palmdale officials said they plan to count the votes and ask the appellate court to certify the results. It may be months before it is sorted out, and in the meantime, the current officials will remain in place until certification or a special election.

For their part, the four mayoral candidates and four City Council candidates say they have pushed ahead with campaigning, despite the confusion.

The two council seats contested in the race are the one being vacated by Laura Bettencourt, who decided not to run for re-election; and the seat currently occupied by veteran Councilman Tom Lackey, who is seeking re-election.

Lackey has been a councilman since 2005, and is a sergeant with the California Highway Patrol. He has the backing of the local firefighters union, longtime Mayor Jim Ledford and several law enforcement groups.

The other three candidates are former planning commissioner and Antelope Valley College dean Fred Thompson; first-time candidate for public office Sir Duplechan; and attorney Richard Jesse Loa, the only Hispanic to ever sit on the City Council, which he left in 2008 to take an appointment in Sacramento on the Board of Prison Terms.

All of the candidates have pushed economic platforms, urging voters to see them as the one who can bring new businesses to the Antelope Valley, which struggled during the recession.

“I’m really keen on diversification,” Thompson said. “For a long time Palmdale has been a one-industry town. It has been entirely dependent on aircraft. We have the skilled workers here because of that, but now we have to find new industries and innovation to bring here.”

Loa, backed by outgoing Councilwoman Bettencourt, said attracting businesses to Palmdale is also high on his priority list, but said it’s a matter of marketing the city in the right way to attract new and expanding companies.

“My top priority is getting companies in here who are willing to bring better paying jobs,” he said. “We have to go out there and aggressively advertise.”

Duplechan agreed, noting that his personal experience drove home the idea of needing to bring jobs to the area.

“I commute to L.A. to work,” he said. “I’m one of those commuters who couldn’t find work in Palmdale. But Palmdale has the infrastructure to support new businesses. It’s about getting out there and working with companies to get the right contracts and the right conditions to bring them to the Antelope Valley.”

The economy was top of mind for the mayoral candidates, too, several of whom pointed out that with a tepid economic recovery, residents were beginning to seek an increase in services after years of cutbacks.

The mayor’s race, which in many past years has seen Ledford run unopposed, is relatively crowded this time around. Three challengers are looking to replace the 11-term city leader, who first took office in 1992.

“The main thing is increasing the quality-of-life concerns,” said Lynn Minidis, who serves as chief financial officer for Red Brick Pizza, the company she founded with her husband. “We cut back hours at City Hall, we cut the Fall Festival, things like that. People want increased code enforcement. Neighboring cities have nearly identical revenue and they are able to maintain city services. It’s time to bring those things back to Palmdale, too.”

Maggie Campbell, a retired Navy officer and current professor and pastor, said those quality-of-life issues mean a change is needed at City Hall.

“I believe we have to put families first,” Campbell said. “Everything the city does has to be reflective of the families and the people that live here, and I think I’m approachable. I want City Hall to be a place to come by, to visit. I want to be collaborative and I don’t think that’s what is happening there now.”

Neighborhood watch organizer Mitcheal Toles seconded the idea of expanding the base of collaboration at City Hall.

“I’ve been really proud of how I’ve been able to bring my neighborhood together for Fourth of July, for Halloween, for other events,” he said. “And we’ve strengthened relationships. I think that’s what the next mayor needs to do — strengthen relationships with companies, with law enforcement and with residents.”

Ledford said he thinks his experience has led him to those same conclusions.

“I’ve kind of followed the residents’ lead on what they want right now,” he said. “We’ve been reviewing quality-of-life issues. I hear the desire for increased code enforcement, which will restore property values.”